This week's inspiration image was taken in April 2020, at the start of the first covid lockdown. We were exploring our local area, as we couldn't do our usual walks. I spent a lot of the walks photographing random things and looking at turning the mundane into something beautiful.
I had no real idea what I was going to do with this photo. In the end I decided to just make the catkins and see what occurred to me. I needle felted the insides, and found some stiff cotton and tiny gold beads for the covering hairs.
I stitched the beads on, leaving loops between stitches so they stood out from the base. I realised quite quickly that I needed to make a stitch though the main body before adding a new bead, or the threads just pulled flat to the base.
As I worked I got the idea to make a necklace, using hand spun and double chain plied wool to make the chain. The dark brown fibre I used replicates a tree branch nicely, especially with the lumps and bumps I managed to spin in.
I'm reasonably happy with my final piece. It was a good learning curve. The only issue is both my husband and my son pointed out it looks like a pair of testicles hanging around my neck, and now I can't see anything else! 🤣🤣🤣
Next week's image is below
